BOW VALLEY – To help spread holiday cheer and goodwill, the Bow Valley Christmas Spirit Campaign is back this year, with higher goals and some changes to the way it distributes food.
The goal for this year’s Bow Valley Christmas Spirit Campaign (BVCSC) fundraiser is an ambitious $90,000, up from last year’s goal of $85,000.
The BVCSC has also changed the way it is distributing food this year. Instead of sending out food hampers, the campaign decided to give recipients a preloaded grocery card to better suit their dietary and personal needs.
“This is a natural extension of the community work and our understanding of the issues around food security,” wrote Sally Caudill in an email to The Outlook.
“We have been doing a lot of research into how to best provide healthy food and how to effectively manage the workload around food donations. In order to provide the most value and nutritious foods to those who receive hampers, we have decided to move to gift cards for this year’s campaign. So, we are asking people to donate money and gifts this year instead of food.”
To help raise the $90,000 goal, the BVCSC has also planned some activities around town for people to participate in, starting this weekend (Nov. 17-18), with the Christmas Market at Canmore Collegiate High School (CCHS). BVCSC also has another market planned for Dec. 1-2 at the Canmore Seniors Centre.
On Dec. 3, BVCSC has a Trinity Woman’s Dinner fundraiser planned, a food drive in conjunction with Royal LePage on Dec. 6, and a radio fundraiser and Eagles Game of Giving.
According to Caudill, if residents of the Bow Valley would like to volunteer to help with the campaign, they can sign up online.
If residents can’t give their time, but instead want to help out through a cash donation, Caudill says that the earlier they can donate, the better it is for the campaign.
“We ask people to please donate cash funds – early. The campaign has a shoestring budget that relies heavily on volunteers. We need cash donations to be able to provide the campaign. Thanks to the generosity of the Canmore community we continue to be able to make sure everyone has a memorable Christmas,” wrote Caudill.
Go to www.christmasspiritcampaign.com to donate or find out more details.
Also new this year to Christmas Spirit is a partnership with the Bow Valley Elves campaign. The Bow Valley Elves is a group that has been running for the last six years, with the goal to brighten the holiday experience for seniors and elders across the Bow Valley.
According to Christine de Soto, who started Bow Valley Elves, last year they delivered 300 gifts to elders and seniors in Exshaw, Canmore, Dead Man’s Flats, Harvie Heights, and Morley.
The campaign sets up trees of giving at local businesses and bank branches. Residents of the Bow Valley can pick a gift tag off the trees, then purchase the gift requested on the tag, and then return it for the Bow Valley Elves to wrap and deliver.
“I run out of tags every year, that’s not a problem. People love buying the gifts,” said de Soto.
“The feedback that I get from people buying the gifts is that their favourite thing they do at Christmas time is to take a couple of tags off the trees and make sure that a senior, or an elder in our community, is getting some little gift that they wanted.”
Each year students from CCHS deliver the gifts to the elders and seniors, spending some time with them and helping to spread the holiday cheer.
“For a lot of them, that’s the most fun they have is when those kids from the high school come and they run around and there’s lots of hugs and storytelling. It’s just a great experience on both ends. The seniors get so much out of it and the students get so much out of it,” said de Soto.
The Christmas trees of giving can be found inside Rusticana Grocery, TD Bank, the Alberta Tourism and Information Centre, and CCHS students have their own tree at the school. The Bow Valley Elves are also accepting cash donations at Rusticana to help purchase gifts for the campaign.
